While the World Watched
by Dana1
Summary: When a tag match goes wrong, the WWE has to keep going in front of a live audience.
1. Prologue

Title: While the World Watched

Author: Dana

Rating: PG

Warnings: Um it's touchy we'll just go with drama.

Summary: When a tag match goes wrong, the WWE has to keep going in front of a live audience.

Time frame: AU of RAW on 7/1/13

Author's note: This is the realm of wrestling is not real.

Disclaimer: I claim anyone you don't recognize. Everyone else either belongs to themselves or the companies that created them.

One backstage observer that night in Sioux City Iowa would later say that when he looked at the three backstage that night you would never have guessed something would go wrong.

"They were all joking around," he said to an interviewer. Everyone could see they were all in good moods especially him. He never let the problems he was having at home interfere with his job. I honestly think all three were excited about the program this summer."

"It really was going to be a simple tag match," an agent, who asked to remain anonymous, said, "second hour closer."

There were even rumors that Brock was on hand to do a possible run in but they never got that far.

"No one knows what happened," a ring technician said later. "The ropes had been fine all night. No one complained about them being loose.

So what happened that caused a simple tag match to end in tragedy? Stay tuned to find out.

DDD

Notes: It's a prologue. I have chapter one already written so it'll be up shortly.


	2. Snap

CM Punk arrived in Sioux Falls with a huge smile on his face. He was just coming off of a great time at Wizard World New York City not to mention that his beloved Blackhawks had won the Stanley Cup.

"Nice t-shirt," John Cena called as Punk entered the lockerroom. Punk was wearing a Blackhawks t-shirt.

"Thanks John," Punk grinned. Nothing was going to undermine his good mood. Even though his match wasn't until the second hour, Punk got dressed. He put on his blue Gracie Academy hoody on over his wrestling tights and grabbed his headset. He closed his eyes tying to shut out the talk of the lockerroom. He opened his eyes when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Hey Michael," Punk said to Michael PS Hayes.

"I wanted to talk to you, Axel, Paul, Darren, and Titus about your match tonight."

"Okay," Punk said getting up and following Hayes out of the lockerroom. He found the others waiting for him.

"Okay we're giving you guys ten minutes for the tag match," Michael said, "Punk and Axel will go over with Punk hitting Darren with the GTS. You guys can figure out the conflict but what I was thinking is that as Punk is lifting Darren up for the GTS, he accidently knocks Axel out of the ring."

"That could work," Punk said.

They worked out the match for awhile before Punk and Heyman were called away to tape a promo for that night.

* * *

"I can't wait to work with you in the ring," Axel said later that evening as he, Punk, and Heyman stood in the back waiting for their match.

Punk grinned and said, "yeah," he was slightly distracted by a text he had just received from Amy about their plans that weekend. Punk still wasn't scheduled for house shows and was planning to spend the weekend with his girlfriend in Atlanta and maybe work out at the Gracie Academy while in Atlanta.

"Are we still having the singles match next week," Axel asked not seeing Punk's distraction.

"As far as I know," Punk said as he put his phone away. "But this is WWE. Booking is always subject to change. Usually five minutes before the segment."

Heyman laughed. "Nothing changes with this company." He said slapping Punk on his shoulder.

Making Moves started playing. Punk, Axel, and Heyman made their way to the gorilla position and watched as the Primetime Players made their way to the ring.

Curtis Axel's music started playing and Heyman and Axel went out. There would be a commercial break before Punk went out.

Punk spent the next five minutes fidgeting with his knee pads. He was still getting used to the thickness of them. Ever since he had injured both knees in the span of seven months, he had been taping them up and using bigger knee pads. He was grateful that he didn't need the knee braces that Steve Austin and Hunter Hearst Helmsley had needed. His knees weren't that gone.

Cult of Personality started playing. He walked out and got into a kneeling position and did the entrance he had been doing almost since coming to the WWE. He received a huge pop. Even though he preferred being a heel, he still loved hearing the cheers.

The tag match started and Axel was the one who was worked on. He was in the ring for a little over five minutes before Punk got the hot tag.

Punk jumped on the top rope preparing to hit Young with a flying elbow. The top rope snapped. He felt himself falling backwards. He hit the hard floor head first and something else snapped and that was it.

"Oh my God!" Heyman yelled as he ran over to his best friend who lay in a crumpled heap. He knew bodies weren't supposed to land that way and his neck…he had to look away.

Scott Armstrong took one look at Punk and flashed the X which alerted the back that they had a serious injury. The ringside doctor was already running towards Punk.

The action in the ring had completely stopped. The Primetime Players stood in their corner unsure of what to do. Axel rolled out of the ring and went over to where officials and EMTs were gathered around Punk.

"We need a stretcher," the ringside doctor was saying into a headset. "Have the ambulance as close as you can get it. We need to get him to the hospital now."

Wrestlers started pouring out of the lockerroom. Fans were on their feet trying to get a better look. The stretcher went over and they carefully loaded Punk onto the stretcher. An oxygen mask was put on Punk's face as they wheeled him quickly and efficiently backstage.

RAW went to commercial.

* * *

Notes: Tough chapter to write is all I have to say.


	3. Now What?

It was pandemonium backstage. Everyone could see that Punk was seriously injured. They loaded Punk into the back of the ambulance and Heyman rode with him.

Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and Vince McMahon stood together backstage. They had less then five minutes to figure out what to do before RAW came back on the air. Not to mention that the ring at the moment was unusable.

"We could show them a match from Payback," Stephanie suggested. "It'll give the ring technicians time to fix the ring."

"It's an idea," Vince conceded, "but we have a little more then an our left on the show not to mention that our closing segment just left in an ambulance. Vince didn't mean to sound so crass but he didn't want to show his concern about one of his employees.

"We'll figure something out," Hunter said. "Let's give them Punk vs. Jericho. If we don't show the entrances, it'll give us twenty possibly twenty-five minutes." Vince and Stephanie nodded their agreement and Hunter left to speak with the production team.

When RAW came back on the air, it showed John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry "The King" Lawler, and Michael Cole. All three of their faces were pale.

Michael Cole was the first one to speak. "Moments ago something happened during the tag match between the Primetime Players and CM Punk and Curtis Axel. CM Punk stood on the tope ready to hit Darren Young with a flying elbow and the top rope snapped. Punk fell backwards off the top rope and landed head first on the floor. We are unable to show you footage due to the nature of the injury but what we can tell you is that Punk has been rushed to the hospital."

"I just want to clarify something," JBL said, "I know some of you at home are sitting on your couch thinking what happened was fake and that Punk is fine. What happened to Punk was real. This is a dangerous sport and things happen in the ring. What happened to Punk…" he couldn't finish.

"We are trying to get the ring fixed but until then here's CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho from Payback."

"This feels almost as bad as the RAW memorial show for Chris Benoit," JBL said after silencing his headset.

Cole and Lawler nodded their heads in agreement.

Lawler took his headset off and stood up. He looked around the arena and saw that three quarters of the fans were watching the match on the Titantron. The rest were watching the ring, talking to each other, or texting/talking on their cellphones.

JBL took his headset off and massaged his temples. "I hope Punk's okay," he said.

"It looked like he broke his neck," Lawler said as he sat back down. "Did you see the angle of his head? It was bad. If he survives it…" Lawler was unable to finish that sentence. He could only hope that Punk would be okay.

* * *

The Internet was abuzz. There were several articles already guessing Punk's condition. For a very short time there had been an article up on a less then reputable website saying that Punk had arrived DOA at the hospital. It had been taken down almost as quickly as it had gone up. No one seemed to know what was going on. Punk's friends were tweeting asking the fans to pray for Punk. There was even a tweet from a certain lion expressing concern for his new friend. CNN had done a segment but they had no information to offer. The ratings of RAW went up as people who didn't normally watch the show were tuning in to see if there was any new information on the fallen Second City Saint.

* * *

The news concerning the ring came to Vince just a few minutes before the Payback match finished playing. The technicians didn't have the tools to fix the ring and there was not enough time to set up a second ring. They would still have approximately thirty minutes to fill.

"Match is over," one of the Agents, Arn Anderson called.

Now what? Seemed to be the question backstage.


	4. Three Words

The WWE had had 20+ minutes to come up with a plan but they had nothing. They had thought the technicians would be able to fix the ring but they weren't. Now they only had a few minutes to come up with something. Someone had thrown around the idea of sending John Cena out but the idea had been quickly dismissed as Cena without a script could dangerous.

"I've got an idea," Stephanie said, "let Miz and Jericho go out there and have a combination Miz TV/Highlight Reel. They could debate over who has the better show."

Vince sighed. "It will have to do." It was the only good idea he had heard. He vowed tomorrow to call a board meeting to come up with a plan for what to do if something like this happened again. He did not like being unprepared.

Miz went out firs then Jericho. They only had been given two minutes to outline what they were going to say but almost all of the segment would have to be done on the fly.

Jericho started it out by wishing Punk a speedy recovery. He didn't make any comments in regards to their previous feud. He and Miz decided to not mention Punk in the segment. Unfortunately for both Miz and Jericho the fans were not into the segment at all. You could almost hear the crickets in the arena. Not the type of crickets you got when Punk was on the mic, these were the type from fans not paying attention.

Jericho and Miz limped through the rest of the segment before heading backstage.

"We should just end the show," Hunter said. "The fans aren't paying attention and we don't have a ring."

"We still have twenty minutes left," Stephanie, said, "it's too early to end the show."

Vince sighed. "Send Brodus Clay and the Funkadactyles out to dance on the stage."

Brodus Clay, Naomi, and Cameron went out.

The fans booed. This show was turning into an absolute nightmare.

"After this we'll show the trailer for Total Divas." Vince said.

* * *

The net was still abuzz with news articles about Punk. More and more articles were popping up that Punk's neck and snapped killing him instantly but WWE was denying that rumor on their website and in the chatroom.

The ratings increase had stopped and was starting to go down as people changed the channel. Non-wrestling fans and actual wrestling fans couldn't believe what they were seeing on their TVs. It was apparent WWE was desperate to fill TV time.

* * *

Vince looked at his watch. "Play Punk's shoot interview," he said and walked away to make a phone call he dreaded. He started to get a bad feeling about the rumor since more and more sites were posting it. The phone rang four times before it was answered.

"Hello," a choked up voice answered.

That was all the confirmation that Vince needed.

He was gone.

* * *

Notes: Ducks and runs for the hills.


	5. Fade to Black

"He's dead," Vince asked trying to keep his voice from breaking.

"Yeah," Heyman answered. "Sorry I didn't call sooner its just…Phil was one of my best friends. I had to sit in the front of the ambulance listening as they tried CPR and those paddles…**defibrillator** but nothing worked. He's dead."

Vince thanked him and hung up. It was hard to listen to a man who was broken hearted. He knew he would encounter that but he had to tell everyone first. He walked over to where his daughter and son-in-law were standing."

"He's dead."

A hand flew up to Stephanie's mouth.

"I'll go make the announcement to everyone backstage," Hunter said as he walked away.

Vince walked to the production truck to see how fast they could make a graphic.

* * *

Hunter stood in front of everyone not sure of how to tell everyone. It wasn't the first time they had to break this kind of news to the talent but it never got easy and this was the first time he had to make the announcement himself.

"We just got word," Hunter said as soon as everyone was gathered. "Punk's dead."

Everyone was too shocked to say anything at first. "Who's going to let the fans know?" Someone asked.

"I want to do it," Cena said stepping forward. He looked at the title that was slung over his shoulder. "Do we have the old belt design?"

"We gave it to Punk," Hunter said. "Since Rock was getting the new design, we figured Punk should have the old one.

"I guess I'll have to make do," Cena said as he grabbed a mic from the Gorilla position. This would be the toughest thing he had ever done. "No music," he said to the technicians.

He waited until the video of the shoot interview promo ended. As Punk walked out of the arena on the screen, Cena walked through the curtains. He got the boos he had long ago become accustomed to.

He walked towards the ring but did not enter it. He stood there and turned to face the audience. How could me make this announcement? He wondered. He and Punk had been close friends, not best friends, but close friends. They had goofed off together at house shows and in the ring when they wrestled each other; they gave the fans something to talk about. Punk pushed him to be better every time they were in the ring. Who would do that now?

Cena cleared his throat before he began.

Cena Sucks! Chants filled the arena.

Cena bit his lip. He couldn't respond to the fans. Not now so instead he said, "earlier tonight CM Punk fell out of the ring after the top rope he had been standing on broke. He landed on his head and was rushed to the hospital. We just received word that he died."

The fans sat in stunned silence. A lot of them had been checking the Internet during the show and the majority had hoped the Internet had been wrong.

"CM Punk was an extraordinary wrestler. Not a superstar. He'd be the first one to tell you he was a wrestler. He was the best in the ring and on the mic. He said every night when he came out to perform that he was the best in the world. He will forever be remembered as being the best in the world." He took the title off and set it down in the approximate location of where Punk had fallen.

The camera zoomed in and then faded to black. A graphic appeared on the screen and Titantron that read:

Phillip "CM Punk" Brooks

October 26th 1978-July 1st 2013

Best in the world

RAW went off the air with ten minutes left.

* * *

Notes: There will be an epilogue. Thanks for hanging with me.


End file.
